MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT PLATFORMS TO EMPOWER THE ENTERPRISE A BUSINESS CASE FOR MDM

Transcription

1 MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT PLATFORMS TO EMPOWER THE ENTERPRISE A BUSINESS CASE FOR MDM PREPARED BY DANIEL MAYCOCK AND FRED CLARKE SLALOM CONSULTING INTRODUCTION The use of mobile devices in enterprises is growing daily. With more and more employees bringing their most recently purchased mobile device in to work, the need for controls and proper governance has never been stronger. In years past, IT organizations were slow to move beyond BlackBerry devices or limited their support of mobile devices those days are history. One of the consequences of Apple ios mobile devices becoming so popular is that IT organizations are being asked to figure out how to manage and support non-blackberry devices. Many organizations are responding to the disruptive effect of the ipad and tablet computers being brought into the enterprise, particularly from executive management teams and Lines of Business (LOB), who are demanding intranet connectivity. Given the existing way in which BlackBerrys are managed, through the use of a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), IT organizations are looking at a fast-growing category of middleware called Mobile Device Management (MDM). These management tools are quickly evolving into cross-mobile-platform management environments that can manage most major consumer mobile devices and their native OS platforms. Utilizing MDM or, less commonly, Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), a company can now manage and control the access of mobile devices to corporate information. Utilizing an MDM toolset not only helps to maintain control over potentially sensitive corporate data, in areas such as attachments or office documents. It helps to manage physical assets when corporate-liable devices are utilized vs. personal-liable devices. In addition, it helps to supplement the cost controls associated with Telecom Expense Management (TEM) tools. Finally, popular capabilities such as mobile app stores can now be enabled within an MDM package. DOES MY ENTERPRISE NEED MDM? Before jumping into technology solutions, an organization first needs to validate its longer-term vision and strategy when it comes to mobile devices, including whether MDM is something for which to plan. You will need to investigate MDM sooner rather than later if a few drivers are in play: Apple, Android, or other mobile devices are being brought into the enterprise but are not officially sanctioned or supported. This often starts with executives that demand that non-blackberry devices be connected, and that opens the floodgates. Lines of business are demanding new applications for mobile devices. Often these groups have budgets and initiatives that must be supported quickly. Having a mobility strategy in place that has appropriate security and IT policies using MDM middleware is an important foundation on which they can then plan and deploy tools more efficiently. A bring your own device (BYOD) policy is being considered or implemented. This often happens when interest or demand for corporate-liable BlackBerry devices is waning, and organizations have to figure out how to support new mobile devices without incurring significant additional costs. Mobile TEM Corporate-liable devices have incurred significant excess costs, and new options are being 1 MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT

2 considered to prevent mobile cost overruns or to shift to new subsidized smartphone options to shift to new subsidized smartphone options. CAN AN ENTERPRISE ALLOW A VARIETY OF MOBILE DEVICES IN WITHOUT MDM? Yes, it can be done. And there are a few ways an organization can securely distribute custom apps and ensure IT policy compliance on these devices. However, if large numbers of users are expected to be on-boarded, the enterprise is in a highly regulated industry, or custom mobile applications and capabilities are being planned for the near future, Slalom Consulting recommends taking a serious look at MDM options. The intent of this Slalom Consulting White Paper is to help enterprises frame and begin to flesh out their business cases for MDM and to assist with positioning MDM as a foundation for embracing the productivity and potential cost savings that consumer mobile devices can deliver or to put it another way, allow further consumerization of the IT organization. Below we are utilizing an STP (Situation Target Proposal) approach to help you frame your MDM planning. PROBLEM STATEMENT THE SITUATION With the advent of consumer-grade mobile technology interacting with corporate assets, the risk of exposing sensitive corporate data has been catapulted to the forefront. Not only is information protection important, but securing the network from unauthorized access via a compromised device is another strong concern. Possible intrusions could come in the form of SIM card swapping or rootkit planting as well as other emerging attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in mobile device operating systems. In addition to security, device patches for critical upgrades to corporate-liable devices is another area where there is little enterprise-wide compliance unless one is utilizing a BES/BlackBerry infrastructure. Also, the costs of both the physical asset and the data/ phone usage are an area where enterprises are growing more concerned due to cost overruns and limited management options. TEM solutions are increasingly used in large organizations, but they tend to be geared primarily toward wireline expenses. Wireless TEM is turning into a major area of focus, and many vendors now offer strong management controls built for mobile devices. Some MDM vendors are now leveraging these TEM cost-saving features. Regardless, the need to control, manage, and secure both the physical mobile device and the software and operating system has become a growing concern for enterprises. As mobile initiatives take shape in enterprises, challenges include deployment and maintenance, ensuring devices are utilized appropriately and meet compliance requirements, and avoiding a diminished ROI associated with mobile apps or services deployed to corporate employees. THE PROPOSED BENEFITS A TARGET By deploying a Mobile Device Management platform, organizations have the ability to: Provide a cross-mobile-os platform to distribute and manage policies Offer tools and processes enterprise-wide for employees to easily on-board their mobile devices and access support Validate and monitor that all mobile devices are compliant with security requirements so all enterprise in formation is protected at all times Manage costs for corporate-liable mobile plans in conjunction with a potential TEM deployment Enable a mobile app store capability Though MDM tools usually focus very heavily on the security side of an organization, more and more corporations are putting the MDM maintenance in the hands of teams that manage corporate mobile 2 MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT

3 applications, or existing BES deployments. This is due to the corporations growing interest in having a mobile application store. Companies utilizing MDM tools make sure corporate controls are not only applied to access, but also to what gets installed on corporate-liable devices, creating safeguards similar to restricting administrative access on laptops. In addition, enterprises can use MDM to help extend the proliferation of mobile devices to groups beyond knowledge workers, such as hourly employees or field service employees. These groups traditionally had restricted access to or collaboration options due to previous security concerns. By utilizing MDM, companies remove barriers to deploying mobile device access enterprise-wide and unleash the benefits of easier and more timely access to corporate information using mobile devices. USE CASES FOR MDM THE PROPOSAL If your company doesn t have a road map for MDM, it should be on the list in 2011 for critical infrastructure considerations. Doing a bake-off among top MDM companies such as MobileIron, AirWatch, or Good for Enterprise ensures that your company has a plan in place to handle mobile security and a good idea of what s becoming available in mobility management. Today, there are more than 40 MDM offerings in the market, and they vary in functionality and in feature sets. It s important to know your organization s priorities and to use these priorities as a framework for evaluations and considerations. Spend some effort to identify what mobility pain points must be addressed before consulting MDM vendors. To help you get started, you can look at your existing BlackBerry environment and identify key features and enforcement tools you utilize through BES. For example, if you are in a highly regulated industry or most of your users receive highly sensitive s, then an MDM package that caters more strongly to providing a secure corporate access model should be on the short list to evaluate. When moving into testing mode, ensure you are not just comparing features but also gaining a full understanding of the MDM vendors cost structures. Once the bake-off is complete and the decision has been made, ensure time is spent on developing governance models for the team(s) that will manage not only the MDM policy deployment but also the impact on asset management for corporate-liable devices. You want to be sure to have the policies, procedures, and communication plan in place to ensure you get full utilization of your MDM investments. Employees will be resistant to allowing the corporation to control their mobile devices, but it s the compromise necessary to have ready access to corporate resources. Making sure that is communicated and enforced is critical for the success of an MDM deployment. Though MDM tools may vary in the level of security/ enforcement on a device (i.e., remote wipe just for corporate data vs. remote wipe of the entire device), it s important to enforce controls on . The single biggest area of vulnerability for corporations when it comes to information protection is corporate . CLOSING THOUGHTS Evaluating MDM products gives your company a clear idea of where it s headed in regard to mobile device support and a clear idea of what s out there for solutions. More importantly, it puts a security and compliance foundation in place so lines of business and various strategic initiatives can leverage mobile devices and can focus on what s important for the business and end-user productivity. Also, an MDM evaluation is an opportunity to gather input from executives and stakeholders with interests in mobility, and drive development of a mobility strategy across the enterprise. Mobile technology in some form or another is most likely already deployed in your organization, and groups are actively accessing data in the absence of any clear enterprise policy. An MDM initiative can be a catalyst to strengthen and accelerate mobile device activity occurring throughout the enterprise. What s important to note is that MDM is an enabler for all future mobile activity. Starting mobile 3 MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT

4 application development before your MDM layer is in place may cause implementation issues or cause applications to break. Placing a priority on MDM before any more activity occurs in the enterprise is pivotal and will ensure a safer and easier support model for mobile technology well into the future. 4 MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT

5 SUGGESTED READING To learn more about MDM: Mobile Management Deep Dive, InfoWorld Special Report, November Mobile Device Management 2010: A Crowd of Vendors Pursue Consumer Devices in the Enterprise, Gartner, 17 December Magic Quadrant for Mobile Device Management Software, Gartner, 13 April, APPENDIX A COST COMPARISON Below are a series of estimates taken from a number of top MDM vendors using their suggested pricing. Slalom Consulting recommends that you lay out your total cost of ownership over three years and include expected labor costs, licensing, support, and maintenance. In addition, if it s possible to estimate the impact on the help desk of MDM automating many capabilities that are traditionally done today by deskside support of live callers, it can be a significant benefit. Cost Per 1,000 Users (Cap Ex) Svr Lic + Seat Lic Yr 1 Cost Per 1,000 Users (Cap Ex) Svr Lic + Seat Lic Yr 1 (Seat/Svr Lic) OpEx Yr 2 + Yr 3 Typical MDM Pricing $52,000 $6,000 $22,000 MDM Vendor A $89,202 $6,000 $172,134 MDM Vendor B $60,000 $6,000 $26,400 MDM Vendor C $70,000 $6,000 $28,000 MDM Vender D $150,000 $6,000 $33,000 Svr Support Staff (OpEx) 1 $20 per Hr (CapEx + OpEx) 3 Year Total Total Cost Averaged Cost Per User Per Month Typical MDM Pricing $54,350 $80, $2.22 MDM Vendor A $54,350 $267, $7.43 MDM Vendor B $54,350 $92, $2.57 MDM Vendor C $54,350 $104, $2.89 MDM Vender D $54,350 $189, $ MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT